Final Verdict

Reviews / Votes

In this informed, thoughtful work [Buck] skilfully weaves together his investigation into his own family's Nazi past - and their attempts to disguise it - with broader themes of historical justice and culpability . . . [a] masterly account -- Adam LeBor * THE TIMES * Final Verdict tells the story of a 21st-century trial that raises vital questions about how we remember the Holocaust. [A] gripping and fascinating book -- James Holland * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5* review * Timely . . . gripping. A narrative that wrestles - calmly and very elegantly - with huge questions. This is a brilliant book. I learned a lot from it, and I was glad of Buck's unshowy, measured style: on the page, he makes complicated things (the law, especially) straightforward. Above all, I found it - and this feeling has only grown since I finished it - to be important . . . books such as Final Verdict have never been more necessary -- Rachel Cooke * THE OBSERVER * Excellent . . . a timely, wise and fair-minded meditation on a singular crime -- Lawrence Douglas * TLS * Final Verdict is a thrilling read. It is a book that raises a myriad of fascinating questions and human dramas, beautifully constructed and enticingly written -- PHILIPPE SANDS, author of EAST WEST STREET Discursive and engaging . . . Buck deftly outlines the legal procedures while also expanding his narrative to take in other late Holocaust trials and testimonies from survivors * IRISH TIMES * Through a riveting account of the trial of 93-year-old Bruno Dey, a guard at Stutthof concentration camp when he was 17 in 1944, "the smallest of small cogs" in the SS hierarchy, Buck compellingly shows how History is always present, never past -- CATRINE CLAY, author of THE GOOD GERMANS The author provides a powerful guide to the proceedings and their context . . . Final Verdict provide[s] a fresh perspective on how Germans have negotiated their sense of historical and individual responsibility * THE WALL STREET JOURNAL * Timely and deeply thought-provoking, The Last Verdict examines how German courts let hundreds of thousands of Holocaust perpetrators off the hook until only a few low-level concentration camp guards remained alive to prosecute. Tobias Buck navigates the thicket of thorny questions surrounding this vexed and vexing history with great scope and sensitivity -- PHILIP GOUREVITCH, author of WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES Absorbing . . . his insightful book examines questions of guilt, complicity and collaboration -- Colin Shindler * JEWISH CHRONICLE * [A] lucid account . . . Buck crisply explains the legal hurdles that thwarted prosecution of alleged German perpetrators in West German courts * HISTORY TODAY * A gripping read from first to last . . . Buck's deep research into his subject makes his book highly informative and thought-provoking. Final Verdict is an important contribution to understanding the impact of the Holocaust on the nation from which it emanated. This is a book that deserves to be read * THE JERUSALEM POST *